The National tribune., 1887-03-03

II
| country have-as they manifestng already.
both by private communications and through the
public press irrespective Of party-the people OF
this country say have every reason to be thank
ful that this bill was presented to an Executives
1 who had backbone enough TO meet the situation.
desire TO say. sir. in this my last opportunity To
address the House upon this question Of pensions
that we are now reaching position when il be-
comes necessary for to look at il in q business
point of view In very few years the soldiers OF
the eountry-not the "bummers"-win have ar
rived at a time of life when their needs will give,
them right not TO ask from US as a charity that
provision be made for them. but to demand suoh
provision as a right. And we must consider that
situation look down toward IT, and must
take care that before they make their claim we do
not bankrupt the country in order to obey the be-
hesis of claim agents aud of coffee coolers, lag
CARDS, deseTters. bounty jumpers and substitutes.
/ Say that 1 am not friendly to the soldier nv
/ Speaker, who that ever enjoyed the exquisite de-
light ofrding down upon a line that waveriDg
and breaking in the presence of the enemy, and
heard the cheer of three times three go up no
eame-a cheer of confidence and joy that a leader
had come-coud everforget his comrades in battles
Who that ever saw those rushing on Thought
less of themselves and their home and their friends
ready to lay down their lives in battle can ever for
get them, or be willing that those men shall be
classified as paupers and placed the pension roll
with the coffee-eoolers of the army? No. Mr.
Speaker, the men who advocate this bill are not, ia
its advocacy the friends of the true soldier They
advocate this bill, many Of them, in my Judgment
and desire to be impersonal i'm my remarks
they advocate TINS Dill, why? simply because the
men whom they expect to buy by the bill vote.
Mr. HENDERSON, of Iowa. For one pronOunee
that false Applause on the Republican side
Mr.. BRAGG. Mr.. Speaker i say that that is the
substratum upon which all this action is based
that If these men. whom they class az paupers,
were to call upon them individually for aid. they
would say, You lazy good -for-nOthing seOundrel.
you competent TO work as + am" Applause
on the Democratic side. Although gentlemen may
deceive themselves into thinking that their motive
here in voting for everything that has the word
"pensiOn" upon it is purely patriotic can say to
them-and speak the voice of the press for every
paper of any prominence in this country has been
teeming with the expression of the seutimentl-if
You succeed in deceiving yourselves you simply do
what the ostrich does when he hides his head and
thinks because he cannot anybody nobody can
, see him. Laughter
IL Is said by the committee that the President IS
inconsistent; that he should have vetoed the Mezi-
r can pension bill. Had he done 50 should have
esteemed it one of the noble acts of his life. But
when that bin went to him with the almost unani
nous vote of this House and the almost unanimous
vote of the Senate, and without the press Of
the country calling his attention to the enorntes
which some members of the Pension Committee
have to-day exposed on the floor of the House. and
which others have joined in pointing out in their
report on this b-men who voted for the bill
! say those things not having been brought to the
a Presidents attention. he wrong in supposing
that once in a while Pension Committee Of this
House could report a bill which ought to be
passed?
0 This bill gives an opportunity to place upon the
: pension roll the hundred day men who closed the
a war with blaze of glory in April, May and
: June, 1865. IL permits an opportunity to go upon
u the roll $4,000 men, 1000 of whom afterwards
2 were deserters-2020 0O that were organized
4 under the call of the President in December 1854
: Only three months before the war terminated in
: fact call came. and under that call during the
Il months of january and February there
l. ganized IN response to it, troops consisting Of 22-
q coo. Some 900 of these were discharged at
- the original camp of rendezvous. because there
was no occasion to demand the assignment OF them
u TO any regiment. Now, who were these men?
say to gentlemen who talk about soldiers, who
e were these men? Do not stand here in your place
= and talk about the devotion of the country to its
" defenders to the men who heard the shrek of the
s. bullet and shot and shell and battle, and covered
Of with blood and carnage carried The flag 20 victory
Of Who were those that found themselves in the
service OF the United States from December. 1854.
> TO February, 1865, that Congress should sit up
n nights to pass pensions To provide for them? They
ia were the scum of the earth. They were men who
- would not enlist. They men who staid until
- those who did not want to go to the front raised
- money by vote and taxation upon the property in
=, the municipalities and Counties had funds placed
~ in their hands to hire and buy things to go that
= could fill the quota and enable them to escape the
=. draft. They were. said, the scum; yes. and the
~ dregs. They stood in their holes until they
OF bought-bought by substitute brokers; bought by
III men who specializing in blood, paid from
500 TO $500 apiece feeling assured that they were
e physically defective that all they had to do was
to go to hospital and there danger to their
IA precious carcasses that they could pocket their
70 SloO and go without fear Of any injury Detailing
Dn them.
ID There are gentlemen on the other side of the
IS House who trust are with me on this question,
re- and who know Just as well as do that the pris-
re Ons were emptied. that poorhOuses emptied.
IA that the slums were oil empted By the proffcr Of
80 600 at the door to bring out the inmates that they
~" might be put as paper credit on the army roll OF
the United States. and the who brought this
about pOeketed the difference made in the trade
ol have seen them coming down with ambulances in
the by trying get people of that class
called soldiers, to march from the shores of the
AS Potomac to the banks Of the RapDahannock and
"a the attempt to get them to the front failure
ns There is another class. And might say in thai
Isl connection when you talk about poorhOuses the
- men you find there a rule are the men who came
- from the pOorhouses to go to the army and wheT
e they came back they apsed into their natural con
e s ditiOn. No genuine soldier in any patriotic com
e, munity that have ever needed to go tC
us the pOorbouse to be provided with all that wa,
ia necessary to care for him. We know, Mr.. Speaker
that is in that way that the patriotic people
the North treat their soldiers. These men that &c
ne to the poorhouse go because they native there
trS they drones; they have lived from hand tS
IN mouth. They have got no enterprise; they have
nc got no self-respeet; they have got no character
They lie down and open their mouths for a teat {,
TO- suck and it does not make much matter what ami
~ NAL has the tea SO long as they can suck anything
ht' from il.
pa fraud and perjury the like of which think nj
country ever before experienced, and which hops
ne will be brought to end ere long mean by that
nv sir not that the soldiers of this country are adj
no dcted to perjury but mean that there sent on
70 blank skeleton forms Of what Is necessary tO b
~ proven, and mean to say that at every Grand ARM
Post and every Grand Army Encampment tina
are meets youwill from to five hundred mel
I've pOkng through the crowd to get men to max
noS afdaviis such needed to procure pension
a ara Mr.. BRUNN pal That is not true; and 80
are know ID.
20 Mr. BRAGG. And those affidavits, Mr.. Speaker
ley, are sworn TO, how? The form of the oath il Q
OF the best of your knowledge What is that Moth
rs ing. ITO the best of your information" Yes
my comrade told me-" TO the best of your be
er- lief?" YES; 1 believe him; and whether I be
nus money and may just well put our hands int
c is tie Trsasnr, as have some other sconnareI an
thief do it, That is the process Oftheir reasoning
ny and when they see Members of Congress stand u
ieh here and away the public money for purpose
for which they would not spendS dollar of thei
rs money when they that species of bad fait
ave and prevarication. they naturally say To them
e'o selves " 10 is wrong for tO dodge to q
va little share of the plumber, than il is for 20
ny hve-thOusand dollar year to violate the striI
1y letter of your eats in order give little donation
to the people i'm your districts by way OF apprOpr
was tiOns for public buildings otherwise"
Mr. Speaker. have said that the country Is wit
up us. The leading Republican, newspaper in m
u State promptly 10 the front Immediately ATE
itfy the message and mpIimened the Presideu
0 of the United states upon u and asked Congress
nid sustain him ia his noble work. The Chicago Til
ioi ilne one of the greatest of the Western Journals
ent came boldly To the front and planted itself side
Is side with the President You gentlemen who thin
me you going to make capital in the West out
me this question have got face your press,
20 you will find that these gentlemen who SIT up alof
'eu the sailors say pointing to the press gallery
may some time other, by their pens, turn yOt
Ie big pension boom into much larger bOOmeran
Ohu in yOur districts.
Is IL Mr. HENDERSON UOwa.l We have Jared in OF
mes districts quite well you have Jared IN your
pay Laughter aud cries of Good.
-hss Mr. BRAGG In Ohio the great Republican new
at papers of the State sustain the Presidents. III
- / great papers of the State of PcuBsy wanna. led
loe the Republican Standardized from that State hin
any If sier stand si, nv side ,,ith the Preside
itles of the United States The papers in the state
the New York almost without distinction of part
iefy save the one paper whose head got added in 9
I ten Ia cod New Work Blaine ISL.